कर्ण उवाच
असंशयं सौहृदान् मे प्रणयाच् चात्थ केशव ॥
सख्येन चैव वार्ष्णेय श्रेयस्कामतयैव च ॥
सर्वं चैवाभिजानामि पाण्डोः पुत्रो ऽस्मि धर्मतः ॥
निग्रहाद् धर्मशास्त्राणां यथा त्वं कृष्ण मन्यसे ॥
कन्या गर्भं समाधत्त भास्करान् मां जनार्दन ॥
आदित्यवचनाच् चैव जातं मां सा व्यसर्जयत् ॥
सो ऽस्मि कृष्ण तथा जातः पाण्डोः पुत्रो ऽस्मि धर्मतः ॥
कुन्त्या त्व् अहम् अपाकीर्णो यथा न कुशलं तथा ॥
सूतो हि माम् अधिरथो दृष्ट्वैव अनयद् गृहान् ॥
राधायाश् चैव मां प्रादात् सौहार्दान् मधुसूदन ॥
karṇa uvāca
asaṃśayaṃ sauhṛdān me praṇayāc cāttha keśava ||
sakhyena caiva vārṣṇeya śreyaskāmatayaiva ca ||
sarvaṃ caivābhijānāmi pāṇḍoḥ putro 'smi dharmataḥ ||
nigrahād dharmaśāstrāṇāṃ yathā tvaṃ kṛṣṇa manyase ||
kanyā garbhaṃ samādhatta bhāskarān māṃ janārdana ||
ādityavacanāc caiva jātaṃ māṃ sā vyasarjayat ||
so 'smi kṛṣṇa tathā jātaḥ pāṇḍoḥ putro 'smi dharmataḥ ||
kuntyā tv aham apākīrṇo yathā na kuśalaṃ tathā ||
sūto hi mām adhiratho dṛṣṭvaiva anayad gṛhān ||
rādhāyāś caiva māṃ prādāt sauhārdān madhusūdana ||
Karna said: "Without doubt, O Keshava, you say this out of friendliness toward me, out of affection, out of friendship, O descendant of Vrishni, and out of a desire for my good. I acknowledge all of this: by dharma I am the son of Pandu, as you yourself believe, O Krishna, on the authority of the books of dharma. A maiden conceived me by Bhaskara, O Janardana; by the word of Aditya she bore me and then abandoned me. Such am I, O Krishna: born in this way, I am by dharma the son of Pandu. But Kunti forsook me, and that was not for my good. The suta Adhiratha, as soon as he saw me, carried me home and out of love gave me to Radha, O Madhusudana."
3816fb5b097c · published Jul 17, 2026, 5:59:56 AM UTC
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Karna speaks from within a complex dharma: he acknowledges the truth Krishna has revealed, yet does not set aside his debt of gratitude to those who raised and sustained him. His image of the war as a sacrifice shows that the battle is already being lived by him as an inevitable, sacred and terrible reckoning for choices made long ago.